Yungblud, 23, had a genius idea. The rock star combined two iconic tracks — Taylor Swift’s “cardigan” and Avril Lavigne’s “I’m With You” — for a live acoustic performance on BBC Radio 1’s Live Lounge, uploaded on Sept. 29. While the two songs were released 18 years apart (Taylor dropped “cardigan” with her new album Folklore in July of 2020, while Avril released “I’m With You” in 2002), the bittersweet melodies blended beautifully together with the help of Yungblud’s rock star voice.
The performance immediately caught Taylor’s eye! “WELL this took my breath away and I’m honored to hear Cardigan intertwined with the wonderful @AvrilLavigne’s masterpiece ‘I’m with you’. Bravo and thanks,” the pop star gushed on Twitter, and Yungblud made sure to give a response! “thankyou for creating such a beautiful song,” the British singer tweeted back. In a separate tweet, Yungblud called Taylor and Avril his “favourite girls.”
Yungblud also sang his new song “Strawberry Lipstick,” which he released in July. The overall performance was the second to last to close out Live Lounge month on BBC Radio 1, which featured artists like Miley Cyrus, Little Mix and Jorja Smith. Yungblud will be continuing his work with BBC with a new podcast, The Yungblud Podcast, which will kick off in October and give fans the chance to speak one-on-one with the host. “This is YOUR time to talk. im gonna speak to one of YOU every episode. i wanna hear YOUR opinions on the world and talk about what YOU are going through,” Yungblud wrote on his Instagram Story on Sept. 29, and encouraged fans to “apply” on the BBC Sounds website.
Yungblud’s Live Lounge video dropped on the very same day as Halsey’s 26th birthday! Despite splitting in the fall of 2019 (which Halsey confirmed last October), the exes have remained on friendly terms. In May of 2020, they reunited to show their support at two Black Lives Matter marches after the death of George Floyd, and even offered aid to protesters in Santa Monica. In August, Halsey even gave Yungblud a friendly birthday shout-out on her Instagram Story! We’ll wait and see if Yungblud will be returning the birthday love. But for now, we’ll be enjoying Yungblud’s present to us (AKA, this Taylor and Avril mashup).